Five deaths on the A34 in a year

Last Monday, 65-year-old Francis McLaughlin, from Winchester, died after the lorry he was driving overturned between Wash Common and Speen at 5am. The northbound carriageway was closed for almost eight hours and the southbound carriageway was also temporarily closed, causing hour-long delays.
Information on previous accidents was provided by Thames Valley Police following questions by the Newbury Weekly News. Four months ago, the A34 was named as one of the country’s safest roads by the Road Safety Foundation and the European Road Assessment Programme.
A driver and passenger also died following a serious single-vehicle accident on the outskirts of Winchester in February.
In May, the driver of a BMW died when the vehicle left the carriageway and struck a tree on the northbound carriageway at Tot Hill.
In August, Anthony Korsah was killed after the Toyota Yaris he was driving straddled the middle lane at a right angle, which was then hit by an on-coming BMW.
While saying that five fatalities was five too many, Insp Paul Winks, from the road death investigation team, added that the volume of traffic using the road had to be taken into account.
“Motorways and A roads tend to be the safest roads,” he said. “When you take into account the volume of traffic, serious incidents are relatively far and few between. When they do happen they tend to come to public light because of the massive disruption that happens around them.”
As part of an ongoing campaign, police are targeting the four most common driving offences – speeding, use of mobile phones, failure to wear a seatbelt and driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs – in a bid to drive down the number of deaths and serious injuries on roads throughout the Thames Valley and Hampshire.